Are you a student who loves to code or has a great idea for a mobile app? Maybe you’re building one right now. Imagine that one day your app could be seen by millions of users.

You’re invited to take part in The AdMob Student App Challenge, a mobile app contest open exclusively to students around the world. The goal is to build a great app (either Android or iOS), create a revenue stream using AdMob's in-app advertising, and tell us about your experience in a written business report. You can either build the app on your own or form a team of up to five students.

To win the Challenge, you'll need a great app and a good business strategy that focuses on how you manage the project, gain users and leverage AdMob. In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing the respected app industry leaders who’ll be on the judging panel.

We’ve got some awesome prizes if you win: The winning team will receive:

A 7-night trip to San Francisco with spending money, including a trip to the Google headquarters in Mountain View.

The winning app will be featured on the Google Play store and on the Play Store's social channels (certain conditions apply).*

An opportunity to star in your own case study video to tell your story.

A Nexus 7 device for each team member.

As well as one overall winner, there'll be a winner from each of the four global regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific), who'll receive computing devices and an honorary mention on the AdMob website.

The Challenge starts today and you have until March 31, 2014 to build a winning app. Visit the AdMob website to learn more and to register. The winners will be announced in May 2014.

Google Interns are located at offices all across the globe, and represent a broad diversity of backgrounds, concentrations and interests. Inspired by Steven Colbert’s Better Know a District, we’re bringing to you “Better Know an Intern!” The series introduces you to our interns across the globe, and will get you the scoop on the impactful projects they work on, their interests and passions, and what it’s really like to intern at Google straight from the source.

For our today's post, meet Christina Lidwin, a senior computer science major and first year Creative Technologies master’s student at Virginia Tech, and an intern on the Billing team.

1. Of all the companies to apply for, why did you want to work at Google?
During my sophomore year, I was looking to participate in a second technical summer internship. I had enjoyed working for a software company in Northern Virginia, and wanted to experience a new company, location, and culture. I had heard excellent things about Google, and I applied for Google’s Engineering Practicum program, which targets current sophomores/rising college juniors. This program stood out for me because of the collaborative project between full-time employees and other interns my age and skill level, career-building classes taught by people from different backgrounds and areas in the industry, and the mentorship opportunities.

Needless to say, I had a great time as an Engineering Practicum intern in Google’s Cambridge office, and I was thrilled to become a Google Student Ambassador and be invited back as a Software Engineering Intern for summer 2013 at headquarters in Mountain View.

2. In what way(s) has Google impacted you, and how have you left an impact at Google?
The motto “there’s always more information out there” is truly a way of life at Google. With so many technologies, languages, concepts, and programs, Google has impacted me by showing me a lifestyle in which everyday presents a new, fun, and exciting concept or challenge to engage with and learn. My hosts/managers, mentors, and peers are all uniquely inspiring people, and I am always amazed by how willing people are to engage in conversation and how much knowledge is shared throughout the company.

Working for Google has also taught me that I can (yes, even as an intern) make an impact for the company. Last summer as an Engineering Practicum intern, I worked with two fellow interns and three hosts to experiment with Robotium Testing for Google Play apps. The experiments help developers in Google Play create visual and simulated interactive tests on Android devices, so they can spend less time on manual testing and more time on developing new features. This summer, I am working within the Google Billing teams to create a new notifications viewer, which helps internal Billing team engineers better understand how events and notifications are processed and manage activity in customer accounts. Both of these projects have helped me see that the work I am doing has a much larger impact than on my own personal development or the productivity of my team; anything I am doing to help make our lives easier as engineers helps change the world.

I also enjoy contributing to Google in more ways than being a software engineering intern. Whether it is volunteering in one of Google’s service projects, participating in a program or event Google is hosting, or being a resource to Google on my university’s campus, it is exciting to be impacted and impact Google in different ways.

3. What is the most interesting/exciting thing that you have been able to do as a Google intern? Your “Magic Moment”?

That's me!

The “magic moments” I have are the times when I get to share my experiences at Google with others. Being able to share what I do and talk to people about Google’s company and culture reminds me how unique Google is and I feel humbled to be a part of it.

This summer, my big “magic moment” was participating in Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) program as one of the first intern Resident Advisors. For three weeks, I got to spend my evenings and free time with my newest technical peers, rising freshmen, talking to them about my experiences as a college student and intern. I was also around to help them learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, and Google App Engine, and this whole experience reminded me why I became passionate about Computer Science in the first place. There are so many cool things you can do in Computer Science, and being surrounded by people who are just getting started is inspiring because they ask a lot of questions and help you look at concepts from new and different angles. I definitely recommend the experience!

4. Aside from working for Google, what kinds of organizations/clubs/activities are you involved with in your community / around your school’s campus?
Outside of my internship and being a Google Student Ambassador, I enjoy playing saxophone as a member of the Newman Community Musicians at Virginia Tech (we even recorded a CD this past spring!), reading design/web development blogs, visiting my high school to talk to Computer Science/Math students about pursuing technology in college, participating in University Honors study abroad and freshmen mentorship programs, and cheering on my college football team (Go Hokies!).

5. What types of lessons/skills have you learned at Google that you will take back to school after this summer ends?
Being involved in the CSSI program and working with Google this summer has given me a greater sense of the phrase “anything is possible.” There are really interesting technical challenges to be solved and exciting products to be designed and developed, and there are so many resources available, that the possibilities for what I can do are endless. Going back to school, I feel inspired to spend more time “inventing the future” (as my school motto goes) through the lense of making information more universally accessible and useful to others.

I am also very excited to be returning to Virginia Tech in the Fall to represent Google as a Student Ambassador for the second year in a row. Throughout the year, I get to use the knowledge I have learned over the summer about Google to engage with various student organizations and academic programs around campus. It will be nice to share the magic of Google with Hokie nation, while also keeping in touch with Google representatives and letting them know more about our school.6. Any advice for students interested in being a Google intern?
Google is a company where you have the ability to bring your passions to life. While that can be as a software engineer, there are plenty of ways to contribute to the community, give back, and help keep Google a forward-moving, innovative, and fun-to-work-and-engage-with company. Do not be afraid to showcase your talents and extracurricular interests on your resume and in your interviews, because Google is about a lot more than understanding how to code.

In 2013, we selected nearly 100 scholars who were all invited to attend our Scholars’ Retreat, held at Google’s office in New York City this summer. The Scholars’ Retreat brings together our scholarship recipients to attend technical and career development sessions and provide opportunities to network with one another and with Googlers while experiencing Google’s unique culture. In today’s post, Carolyn, one of our Anita Borg Scholars from Simon Fraser University, shares about her experience and learnings from the retreat.

On April 23, I received a congratulatory email from Google, naming me one of 30 recipients of the 2013 Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship! As a Google Scholar, I would be heading that summer to Googleplex East - Google's New York City headquarters - for their annual Google Scholars' Retreat!

I landed at JFK International Airport the morning of July 17. Here, I met up with a group of fellow Google Scholars as we headed to the hotel in Manhattan, located a few blocks from the Google office. Since check-in for the retreat wasn't until later that afternoon, a few of us dropped our bags off at the hotel and took the opportunity to explore the city, visiting Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Mathematics!

After a few hours of sightseeing, we hopped onto the subway and headed towards the Google office. Here we met with all the scholars from Google's scholarship programs. Once checked in and decked out with Google swag, we were greeted with a welcome talk from Alfred Spector, VP of Engineering and Research, who shared Google’s approach on research and innovation. Following the talk, we headed off to dinner. This was our first glimpse of eating at the Google office! The Water Tower room and cafeteria were just one of many themed venues we would visit during our retreat.

Alfred Spector, VP of Engineering and Research

The next day we were treated to breakfast at the Google office, followed by a passionate tech talk by Justin Kosslyn, a Product Manager in Google Ideas. He engaged us in a deep discussion about serious issues prevalent in the world today that his group was working on, including human trafficking, mapping arms data, and using the Internet to counter violent extremism. Sitting amongst this audience helped me see exactly why we were selected to be there - we were young, bright minds, curious and eager to use technology to shape the world.

The rest of the morning consisted of interview and resume workshops, which provided us with useful suggestions to aid in our career development. Following this, I joined a group of fellow PhD students for an exclusive luncheon with existing Google researchers. Here, we shared our research areas and projects amongst the group, along with our future plans for positions in industry or academia. We also had the opportunity to find out more about working at Google!

One of the best sessions was the career panel, where four Googlers candidly shared their work experience at Google and addressed questions from the scholars about getting a foot in the door. Topics including academic credentials, GPAs, internships, work/life balance, and the 'Google culture'. Following the panel discussion, we attended a poster session, and then headed over to the restaurant reserved for our dinner. The next day would be the start of our 24HoursofGood!

Scholars’ poster session

24HoursofGood was the first hackathon at a Scholars' Retreat. I was teamed up with three other scholars to solve a technical problem with a non-profit organization, LEAD (LEADership Education & Development) who provide communities for students to gain skills to work in business, computer science, and engineering fields. We started with a quick App Engine 'bootcamp' with Arun Nagarajan, Senior Developer at Google and worked our way through the next 24 hours (fuelled by more food, caffeine, and swag!). It was my first hackathon event ever, and Google made it especially memorable. Each of the 19 teams presented their work and Google judges picked the top teams. I especially enjoyed collaborating with three other team members whose areas of expertise in computer science were different from mine. We were each able to contribute to the task in our own ways and I had tons of fun learning from my group (the unlimited supply of candy was a bonus)! Although challenging to code for 24 hours, we managed through brief yoga sessions, midnight pizza, naps, and coffee. It was an absolute blast!

And then a surprise bonus! In September, Google offered to sponsor our travel and attendance to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Minneapolis, MN. Anita Borg Memorial scholarship winners were reunited (amongst 4,600 other women) and we had the opportunity to spend four days attending tech talks geared towards women in computer science. Especially memorable was our meeting with Google executives, including Alan Eustace, Senior VP of Engineering!

My 2013 year as a Google Scholar has been an absolute privilege and I look forward to future collaborations with Google.

Today marks the start of Google Code-in, a global online contest for pre-university students (13-17 years old) interested in learning more about open source software. Participating students have an opportunity to work on real world software projects and earn cool prizes for their effort.

For the next seven weeks students from around the world will be able to choose from an extensive list of tasks created by 10 open source projects. Some tasks require coding in a variety of programming languages, creating documentation, doing marketing outreach or working on user interfaces.

Participants earn points for each task they successfully complete to win T-shirts and certificates. At the end of the contest, 20 students will be selected as grand prize winners and flown to Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters. Winners will receive a trip to San Francisco, a tour of the Googleplex and a chance to meet with Google engineers.

More than 1,200 students from 71 countries and 730 schools have participated in Google Code-in over the past three years. Last year, our 20 grand prize winners came from 12 countries on five continents!

We hope this year’s participants will enjoy learning about open source development while building their technical skills and making an impact on these organizations. Please review our program site for contest rules, frequently asked questions and to get started!

We are very excited to announce two Google scholarship opportunities for university students in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The Google EMEA Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship honors the memory of Dr. Anita Borg who devoted her life to encouraging the presence of women in computing. The scholarship is open to current female undergraduate or graduate students who will be studying at a university in Europe, the Middle East or Africa for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities aims to help dismantle barriers for students with disabilities as well as encourage them to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders in technology. The scholarship is open to current undergraduate or graduate students with disabilities who will be studying at a university in Europe for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Applicants should be enrolled in a computer science, computer engineering, or closely related technical program and maintain a record of strong academic performance. Recipients of the scholarships will each receive a € 7,000 (or equivalent) award for the 2014-2015 academic year.

The deadline for all scholarships is Monday, February 17, 2014, 17:00 GMT. Apply today!

Each summer we host a Scholars’ Retreat where Google scholarship recipients are invited to a Google office to celebrate their accomplishments, interact with fellow scholars, and hear talks from Google engineers. In addition to inviting our scholars from universities in the US and Canada, this year we also invited our scholarship recipients from Latin America. We spoke with three of these recipients to hear about their experiences.

Thanks for joining us! Can you introduce yourself?

Daniel: My name is Daniel and I’m studying computer engineering at Universidad de Santiago in Chile.

Tell us a bit about the Latin America Scholars’ Retreat that you participated in. What was that like?

Fernando: Before the Google Scholars’ Retreat in New York City, the scholars from Latin America were invited to a “mini summit”. There were 13 students from Chile, Colombia and Argentina and I have to say it was a humbling experience. I met startup founders, hackers, musicians, ex-professional soccer players and skillful engineers writing awesome programs.

María: We started the morning with breakfast then participated in a scavenger hunt through Midtown working out riddles in teams while getting to know places such as Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Central Park.

Daniel: Then we got a tour of the Google NYC office and it was really incredible to see firsthand that everything that is said about the "Google way" of working is true: the atmosphere is relaxed, there’s free food everywhere, and the office space is built in very ingenious ways. “They know exactly how to keep developers happy!” is what many of us said. In addition to the office tour, the mini summit included sessions on how to improve our resumes, and a career panel with engineers and interns from Google, which was incredibly motivating. They spoke about the work and the professional and personal growth they had experienced. It was great to hear from them on what they did and how they came to Google.

What was your experience like once the official Scholar’s Retreat began?

Daniel: After the mini summit we officially began the Google Scholars’ Retreat. Now we were with all Google scholarship recipients from across North America! We let go of the Spanish language and began to speak English.

Maria: Welcome speaker Alfred Spector gave us sincere advice on how to face our careers. Later on, we also took a “True Colors Personality Test” to help us to get to know ourselves better, to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses. Then we gathered with more scholars of the same color, laughed at our weaknesses and realized we could complement them with other people’s abilities.

And that was just day one! What activities did you do on the second day?

María: The second day started with a talk by a Googler who addressed how Google can fight real problems in society such as human trafficking. I have always been concerned about issues like this so when the talk began I just couldn't believe the world that was being opened to my eyes in just less than an hour. I was surprised about Google's diversity and how that helps us to see things we wouldn’t notice in different backgrounds, as a Googler from a career panel said a few hours later.

Daniel: One of the activities I enjoyed the most on the second day was the technical interview workshop. We simulated a real technical interview where we were split into groups of four or five accompanied by a Google engineer. We worked on whiteboards to solve algorithmic interview problems. We did the best we could to come up with an acceptable solution and learned a lot about what the engineers look for when interviewing candidates.

...and that wasn’t all, right?

Daniel: Nope! On Friday, we participated in 24 Hours of Good, a hackathon that focused on providing support to various foundations. It was very fun and motivating to be working with such exceptional people. The results of this session were very good projects and lots of fun. I went to sleep with the satisfaction of knowing that I did something to help!

What’s one thing you learned from attending Scholars’ Retreat?

Fernando: One of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing how much Google motivates you to think big. The engineers and interns that we met were pushing code that affected millions, even billions of users. You really have to solve big problems and that means coming up with smart solutions. It also means that your users have different languages and cultural backgrounds, so you also have to have a global mindset.

Daniel: What I took away from this experience is this -- if you love something, do it passionately! Everything else will come on its own.

María: I would like to share a final thought that came to my mind in a moment at 24 Hours of Good when my group and I were in silence coding in our laptops trying to solve an apparently “impossible problem” just a few hours before deadline. At that silent moment the only thing you could hear was laughter from fellow scholars. That means “zero stress” — people were enjoying themselves and having fun. Indeed, our group was relaxed despite having to solve a lot of things in such little time. We were happy, united and motivated, knowing that we could do anything we wanted, we had everything we needed: it was just up to us.

To learn more about opportunities at Google for students in Latin America, visit google.com/students/latam.

Our 'Diary of a Business Associate Intern' series is designed to give you an inside look into the life of Google interns based all over Europe & Africa. Today, the spotlight is on Dennis Ernest Ssesanga from Uganda, who is a Business Associate Intern with the LCS (Large Customer Sales) team in Google Kampala.

I am proudly Ugandan and my background is in IHSU (International Health Sciences University) where I got my diploma in healthcare leadership and management then studied for a bachelors degree in public health. I served in the student guild leadership once as a member of parliament, then as a minister for sports and entertainment and later as minister for information, internal and external affairs. I taught my classmates how to use Google docs for group discussions and it brought a new revolution to their revision. I advocated for the deployment of Google apps for education at IHSU and founded the Google student club. I was the pioneer Google Student Ambassador for my university and the first non tech student to intern at the Uganda Google office. I love spoken word, photography, technology, health, business and playing rugby. I started up a Latino and ballroom dancing club at my university for leisure and student networking. I am a proud blogger, and co-organizer of a spoken word platform called Open Mic Uganda.

During the Google Student Ambassador Summit 2012 in Kenya, we learnt many things including “opportunities with Google.” I then applied to become an intern after my ambassadorship because of the forecasted workload of introducing students to Google apps and going Google at IHSU.

The SSA Google Student Ambassadors 2012/2013

Google never forgets!! One month to the end of my final semester, I was called up for two interviews and luckily I made it. I'm a Business Associate Intern working with the Google Outreach team for Sub Saharan Africa where we help with the promotion of Google Developer and Business group communities, and worked with Google Student Ambassadors.

As a Google intern, I have learnt to have an idea of what success looks like even before I start a given project. I have learnt that my team’s performance is highly dependant on my input which is why I always held myself accountable for every day that passed, so to have an update to them before end of the week. My main project as an intern was web academy, where I trained 38 trainers who later trained 1200 students on Google apps in various high schools. I worked mainly with Aiesec Uganda.

Me and the Aiesec web academy trainers at office for the certificates award session

My typical day: I wake up at 6am, shower and pull out my jeans plus a matching shirt. I always have breakfast at the office and sometimes work late to beat deadlines.

8am- Breakfast

8.30am- Check mails, calendar and social network updates,

9:00am-
Confirm my day’s meetings on phone

9:30am-
Project web academy: I call up the Aiesec trainer for updates and review feedback

12:30 pm-
Make a final update on the project for my team

1:00pm-
Lunch time: meal time and music time (catch up with some youtube videos!)

5:00pm-
Leave office on condition I’m done with the day’s urgent projects, if not I camp further....

I was also lucky to have met some other Google interns at the summit in Kenya but also met a few on mail and Hangouts.

My advice to interns? It’s not how long or short you work but the beauty of the results you achieve from the set objectives. Always recall that your team’s success is highly reliant on your input so try to beat the objectives. Never underestimate the project you are working on because it’s output will be highly effective.

Pay attention to detail because with this you will be able to draw up a clear plan of achieving your goals. You have got to have an idea of what success looks like then work backwards even before you actually start working physically.

Be confident in your work and don’t undermine yourself because you are young but rather respect your skills and talent and believe that you have got the potential to contribute to your team.

Lastly, respect everyone irrespective of who they are, age and team they belong to.
My future is bright and interesting. I am going to preserve and use the Googleyness gene I have acquired through association with the Googlers in my work. When I finish writing my thesis, I am going to focus on my business projects and will use the skills that I have learned to see them flourish!

I’m going to keep partying every Friday as it’s been at the office. (TGIF)

A Google fun fact! My team planned and organised a communities summit for sub saharan africa where we flew 150+ people to Kenya for a 3 day summit.
At the summit, I taught the attendants some bachata basics and they loved it.

For resume and interview tips before you apply, check out this Hangout on Air. Additionally, please find up to date information on all job and internship postings in EMEA on our job site, and learn more about how the hiring process works.

You’ve heard about Google internships, so now allow us to introduce one of the groups behind the scenes: meet the Tech Intern Team! If you were to meet us, you’d agree that we’re a passionate and busy team motivated by a mantra of helping develop the best and brightest students in tech. Additionally, the Tech Intern Team wants to go above and beyond in creating positive internship experiences for each technical Google intern.

Our team works on all things related to interns in Google’s tech world. We are responsible for developing and maintaining Google’s internship programs which consist of everything from leadership speaker series, special learning and development sessions to a multitude of inclusive social activities. Overall, the team ensures every intern has a challenging, rewarding, and Googley internship. But, what exactly defines Googley? Company co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page once said: “Google is not a conventional company” and this also applies to our internships. Google interns make an impact, are tasked with solving technical challenges that reach a global audience, and participate in an array of fun team activities ranging from Google cake wars to sushi-making and laser tag.

So what do we look for in potential interns? We look for students with a broad set of technical skills who are ready to tackle some of technology's greatest challenges, and make an impact on millions - if not billions - of users. At Google, engineering interns not only help revolutionize Google’s massive product suite, but they also have the opportunity to work directly with full-time Googlers on massive scalability and storage solutions, large-scale applications and entirely new platforms for developers around the world. From AdWords to Chrome, Android to YouTube, Social to Local, Google interns are able to develop creative solutions to a wide variety of problems, affecting users across the globe.

And where do we look for potential interns? Everywhere! Google is actively pursuing top intern candidates from universities around the world! We encourage anyone to apply that is interested in solving complex technical problems, collaborating on Google product initiatives and has a passion for developing their existing technical abilities. If this sounds like you, then perhaps one our technical internships is the perfect opportunity.

If a lightbulb just went off and you’re thinking “I can totally envision myself as a Google intern”, then look no further! The team has been working hard year-round with interns and hosts, and we’re very excited for the upcoming summer 2014 class. We are currently accepting Summer 2014 applications for all of our internship programs! This includes the Software Engineering internship and Engineering Practicum internship.

Software Engineering Internship
Our flagship tech internship is the Google Software Engineering Internship program. Open to students currently pursuing a Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science or related technical fields, this program provides an in-depth look at software development at Google. By having interns within all Google product areas, we allow interns to work within an area that suits their particular skill set and is deemed interesting to them.

Within the Software Engineering internship, Google also has roles in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Software Engineering in Test (SET). SREs are involved with keeping Google running from code-level troubleshooting of traffic anomalies to maintenance of our most cutting edge services. SETs work in multifaceted areas such as developing APIs for upstream product testing, developing productivity/build tools for engineering efficiency, developing best testing practices, and more.

All of our software engineering interns are able to refine their technical skills through access to Google’s resources while experiencing the life of a full-time Googler. Our software engineering interns are heavily supported by Google leaders and also have access to passionate mentors seeking to elevate our interns to the next level while providing constructive career guidance. Google’s Software Engineering Internship program aims to provide each intern a unique and positive professional experience and deepen each intern’s passion for the power of technology and innovation.

Engineering Practicum
Google aspires to be an organization that reflects the globally diverse audience that our search engine and tools serve, and the Engineering Practicum program is designed to reflect the diversity of people and ideas that our company values. The Engineering Practicum program is open to undergraduate university students currently in their first or second year, majoring, or intending to major, in Computer Science or Electrical and Computer Engineering. The program is unique in that it gives first and second year undergraduate students the opportunity to collaborate with one another in fun and supportive settings, develop technical abilities to create production-level code, and experience professional life as a Googler. The deadline for applying for Google’s Engineering Practicum Internship is January 31, 2014.

To apply for either of these programs (or others), simply visit the Google Student Jobs page and apply today. The team looks forward to reviewing your application!